


Airplane Meet Cute

by thisisntreallymeimnotreallyhere



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fear of Flying, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-19
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 07:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2642678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisntreallymeimnotreallyhere/pseuds/thisisntreallymeimnotreallyhere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean, who is a nervous flyer, has decided to go visit his little brother during his semester abroad. Cas, a friendly flight attendant, takes pity on Dean and makes sure he has a relaxing flight. No smut, just fluff, fluff, fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Airplane Meet Cute

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! This is my first fic, please be gentle. :)

They hadn't even pulled away from the gate yet and Dean was already anxious for a drink. He avoided flying as much as possible. His car, his Baby, was the only way he preferred to travel. Once, he had taken a train across the country, but that was because he had helped his little brother, Sam, drive his stupid little hybrid to college in California and Dean needed to get back to Kansas somehow. The train wasn't that bad.

This was horrible. This flight was going to be the death of him.

"Sir," he heard someone say from behind him. A hand was gently placed on his shoulder. Dean turned to find one of the flight attendants hovering just next to his chair. ( _Whoa_ , Dean thought. _Those are some blue eyes_.) "You seem a little jittery. Can I get you something to calm your nerves?"

"Whiskey?" Dean asked as a joke.

The flight attendant gave him a smile and pulled a small bottle of whiskey out of his pocket as if he had anticipated Dean's request. He handed it to Dean with a wink. "I can't give you too many, but I can give you enough to take the edge off."

"Thanks, man," Dean said.

"My pleasure." As the man turned away Dean thought he saw him blush, but that might just have been his imagination. Dean downed the whiskey.

* * *

Just sitting at the gate had been bad enough, but now the engines were running, the captain was speaking, and they were getting ready for take off. Dean had his eyes glued to the friendly flight attendant from earlier as the man (Castiel, according to his name tag) demonstrated the safety procedures for the flight. Every now and then he would glance in Dean's direction but just as quickly glance away. Dean was almost positive that Castiel was blushing. Or maybe it was just too hot on the plane. ( _Oh God, what if the air system wasn't working? What if they really did need to use those oxygen masks?!_ ) Or maybe Dean had drank his whiskey a little too fast.

Once the safety demonstration was over the flight attendants moved to take their seats for take-off. Castiel walked to the front of the plane and whispered something to his coworker who smirked at him and made her way to the back of the plane. She caught Dean's eye as she passed and gave him a wink. When Dean looked back to the front he noticed that Castiel's seat was directly in his line of sight. Oddly, it made him feel more at ease to have his new friend (anyone who have him free whiskey was his friend) close by. Castiel looked up and gave him a reassuring smile. Dean relaxed immediately and didn't dare break eye contact with Castiel for the rest of take-off. Castiel didn't seem to mind.

* * *

Later, as the beverage cart was being pushed through the cabin, Castiel slipped Dean another bottle of whiskey without Dean even having to ask.

* * *

Dean had been gripping the armrest for a couple of hours now and his hands were starting to cramp.

"Do you know how long the flight is from Boston to Los Angeles?" The question came unexpectedly from his favorite flight attendant. Castiel squatted down in front of Dean's seat and put a hand on Dean's knee. Dean wasn't sure if it was for balance or for reassurance, but he didn't mind. It calmed him immediately, while distracting him at the same time.

_The man has gorgeous lips to match his gorgeous eyes_ , was all Dean could think. "Um, what?" he managed to spit out after a while.

"Do you know how long the flight is from Boston to Los Angeles?" Castiel repeated.

"No," Dean admitted. "How long?"

"Eight hours."

Dean nodded. He wasn't sure why Castiel was telling him this, but Dean could listen to him talk for the rest of the flight. "Our flight to Dublin is only six hours. It's one of the shortest direct flights between Europe and the United States. The flight is almost over..."

"Dean," he finished.

"Dean," Castiel repeated, and smiled. Dean concentrated on the hand still resting on his knee. Somehow it helped to know that it took less time to fly across an ocean than it took to fly across the US.

"Thanks, Cas-" just then they hit a spot of turbulence and Dean didn't get a chance to finish speaking. Dean instinctively reached out and grabbed Castiel's hand, who squeezed back in reassurance. It was a small gesture that brought Dean out of his panic.

"Cas," the flight attendant repeated. "I like it."

"Cas," the female flight attendant drawled, obviously overhearing the last part of their conversation. "It's time to serve the snacks. Have you asked Dean if he would like the daily special yet?" It must have been an inside joke because Dean didn't get it, but he didn't miss the blush that spread across Cas' face either.

"Meg, please," Cas said. "He's a nervous flyer, I was trying to help." Meg smirked as she and Cas walked to the back of the plane.

* * *

"Water, this time," Cas said as he walked past Dean's seat a little while later. "You don't want to get dehydrated." Dean didn't even argue. It wasn't the whiskey that was getting him through the flight anymore, anyway.

Their fingers brushed as Dean took the bottle.

* * *

Dean had been quietly humming Metallica for the past half hour, but he was still losing his calm. They only had an hour and a half left on the flight. ( _You can do this, Winchester. We’re almost there. Calm down.)_ The plane jostled just a little bit and that was all that Dean could take. He reached up and pushed the button to call the flight attendant hoping that Cas would come and not the other one. Of course Cas was the one to come.

“Is everything OK, Dean?” Cas asked as he crouched down by Dean’s chair again.

“Sorry, I’m kind of freaking out. Maybe… can I just have some more water?”

“Of course. Give me a moment.” Cas disappeared behind a curtain and reemerged with the requested bottle. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you flying if you’re…”

“A scared, frightened baby?” Dean finished for him with a smirk.

“I was going to say a nervous flier,” Cas smirked back.

“My little brother is studying abroad this semester and he convinced me to come visit him. I thought about taking a cruise across the Atlantic, but I can’t take that much time off of work, and besides, flights are cheaper,” Dean explained.

“I see,” Cas said. “It’s very brave of you to face your fear of flying just to visit your brother.”

“Yeah, well, it’s just him and me now. He was so excited, I couldn’t not go.”

“What is he studying?”

“He’s in pre-law right now,” Dean said, and he couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice. “He’s gonna be a hell of a lawyer on day."

“I’m sure he will be,” Cas agreed. “Do you have any special plans for your visit?”

And so Dean found himself chatting easily with Cas about his upcoming trip, about the plans that Sammy had made for them, about how proud Dean was of his little brother. Focusing on Sam helped to distract him from the reason he had called Cas over in the first place. Well, that, and the fact that Cas wouldn’t stop smiling. Before he knew it, Cas was being called away to make the final preparations for landing.

* * *

"See," Cas said, putting his hand on Dean's shoulder as he had done the first time. "That wasn't so bad was it?"

"No, it wasn't," Dean admitted, smiling a little. He locked eyes with Cas to make sure his next statement would have it’s full effect. ( _Don't blush, don't blush, don't blush._ ) "I couldn't have done it without you." (He blushed.) Cas smiled and blushed back.

"Here," he said, handing a small bag over to Dean. "For being an exemplary passenger." Dean accepted the gift. "Have fun with your brother," Cas said, and walked away. Dean was honestly a little disappointed. That was it? He was sure they had had some deeper connection. But maybe all that small talk was part of Cas' job, to calm down troublesome passengers so they didn't have a total meltdown during the flight. Well, Cas had been very good at his job, Dean couldn't fault him for that. The flight had been better than expected mostly because of Cas. Dean could live with that.

* * *

"How was the flight?" Sam asked, looking anxiously over at Dean. They were crammed into the back of a taxi heading to Sam’s apartment.

“It was fine,” Dean answered and tried to stop bouncing his knee. He could tell he was making Sam nervous. “I’m gonna need some caffeine to get over this jet lag, man.”

Sam seemed to take the hint that Dean didn't want to relive the experience. “What’s that?”

Dean looked down and noticed that he was still holding the bag that Cas had given him. “Um… one of the flight attendant gave it to me,” he explained. “I don’t even know what’s in here.” And with that he upended the bag onto the seat between him and Sam. There were a few snacky things -- muffins, peanuts, another bottle of water -- and a note scrawled onto a napkin. Sam picked it up and started reading while Dean sifted through the bounty.

“Uuhhh…,” Sam cleared his throat. “I think this is for you.”

Dean snatched the napkin from his brother and read Cas’ note. “Dean, I hope the flight wasn’t too stressful for you. You were much better than some other nervous fliers I’ve had to deal with! I hope you enjoy your time with your brother. If you want, I can give you some tips on how to make the return flight more relaxing. Cas 1-555-123-4567” Dean didn’t even take the time to be embarrassed that his brother had read the note. “Give me your phone,” he demanded.

“No way, man!”

“This is important!”

“No! I’m not gonna let you use up all my data on flirty texts!”

Dean sighed. Sometimes his brother could be a real pain in the ass. “Well, what do you suggest I do? I didn’t sign up for an international cell service plan before I flew over!”

“We’ll get you a disposable phone, Casanova,” Sam teased. Dean insisted that it be the first thing they do.

* * *

Now that Dean had his cheap, new phone he wasn’t sure what to say to Cas. He wrote and deleted a few messages before finally coming up with what he wanted. _“Hey Cas, this is Dean. Thanks for helping me get through the flight. I really couldn’t have done it without you. :) You said you had some tips for the flight home?”_

Dean sat back and sipped his coffee. Sam had had to go to class, so Dean had wandered around until he found a small cafe and decided that caffeine would help him get over his jet lag. He figured that he would take advantage of the free refills while he waited for Sam. He didn’t expect Cas to respond so quickly.  _“Hello, Dean. I’m glad you found my note. :) Yes, I have a few suggestions that might help you have an enjoyable return flight."_

“Well, if you’re going to set it up so perfectly…,” Dean mumbled to himself, smiled, and quickly typed his response. _“Unless I can see your reassuring smile I don’t know how enjoyable the flight is going to be. :)”_ Dean almost choked when he got the response. _“Are you sure it was just my smile? I seem to recall a few touches that calmed you down too.”_

“Oh, is that how’s it going to be?” Dean chuckled. He could get on board with that. His coffee got cold as he and Cas spent the rest of the afternoon texting.

* * *

Dean really did enjoy the time he spent with his brother. They had about a week and a half to spend together and they didn’t waste a single second. Sam, bless his heart, didn’t even seem to mind that Dean kept texting Cas. In fact, Sam was the one who convinced Dean to send Cas a picture of the two of them at Blarney Castle.

Before Dean knew it, his short vacation was over and he was facing the daunting flight home. Sam had dropped him off at the airport with some helpful suggestions about meditation. What Dean really wanted was some reassurance from Cas, but Cas had explained that he would be working and wouldn’t be able to text Dean for a while. Which meant that, when Dean finally boarded the plane, he was surprised (but not really) to find Cas was one of the flight attendants.

Cas smiled at him, a wide, reassuring smile that made Dean’s heart skip a beat. “I hope you enjoy your flight,” Cas said, and Dean remembered their first text conversation. He smiled back, letting his gaze linger, enjoying the way Cas blushed. “I’m sure I will,” he said.

* * *

And for the rest of his life, whenever Dean flew anywhere, Cas was right there to help him through.


End file.
